


darling, the future's watching

by somehowunbroken



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-08 03:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14686005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: Connor doesn't give a lot of thought to meeting his soulmate; it'll happen when it happens. He just knows that he's gotMitchwritten on his wrist in black, blocky letters, and that whoever Mitch is, Connor will be thrilled to meet him.





	darling, the future's watching

**Author's Note:**

> ari: is there fic with the "soulmate on your wrist" trope with a trans character?  
> me: not that i know of, but imma fix that!
> 
> this fic takes place after the 2013-14 OHL season.
> 
>  **warning** : this fic features a trans character who is misgendered for almost the entire fic, because the POV character doesn't know know he's trans. as soon as he finds out, he starts using the right name and pronouns, but if deadnaming/misgendering due to not knowing is a thing that bothers you in fic, please skip this for your own wellbeing. <3

Connor mostly thinks it's amusing, if he's being honest with himself, the way Dylan goes to the Hockey Challenge muttering about how much he hates Michelle Marner and comes back gushing about how amazing she is and what great friends they'd become. Connor likes Marns just fine; she's quick and funny and really, really good at hockey, but the turnaround from Dylan is mostly hilarious because of how sudden and complete it is.

"Marns is awesome," he tells Connor every time he asks. "Just… really great."

"Should we be checking your wrist for her name in a couple of weeks?" Connor teases. It's no secret that Dylan's kind of obsessed with the whole soulmark thing; he'd harassed Connor relentlessly about his name on his seventeenth birthday, and Connor had really only resisted telling him to annoy him. Now he's looking forward to his own mark coming in on his birthday, and Connor would put money on Dylan actually counting down the days.

Dylan snorts, though. "No," he says firmly. "Marns is like… it would be like getting my brother's name on my wrist. We're bros."

Connor rolls his eyes. "That's still weird," he says, mostly because it's been at least two days since he'd reminded Dylan about it, and it bears repeating.

" _You're_ weird," Dylan shoots back, and really, all Connor can do is shrug.

-0-

The end of the season sucks, honestly, but the one silver lining thing about it is the giant "well, none of us made the Mem Cup, might as well drown our sorrows together" party that Dylan throws two weeks after the Otters are eliminated. It's enough time to go through the ridiculously painful process of moving back to the GTA and to lick their wounds for a little while, and Dylan invites people from a few different teams to crash at his house in the middle of May.

Connor shows up a little later than he'd meant to, mostly because Google Maps is a liar that can't really account for traffic, and is met at the door by a solemn-looking Max Domi. "What's the password?" she asks, looking suspiciously at Connor like he might somehow be an impostor.

Connor sighs. "Really?"

"Really really," Domi confirms. "Stromer said he texted it to you."

"Fuck Guelph," Connor says, and while it's a sentiment he fully embraces, he could honestly do without Dylan using it as a code word.

"Damn right," Domi says, pulling the door open and stepping back. "I'd say 'welcome to the party,' but honestly, we're just watching _Shrek_ in the living room."

"What other kind of party is there?" Connor asks as he walks in.

Domi laughs. "You're an okay kid, kid," she says, and she doesn't ruffle his hair, but it looks like she really wants to. "Shoes off, cuddle mode on."

"Is that Davo?" Dylan yells from the other room. "His cuddle mode is always on, don't worry."

"Remember that saying about the pot and the kettle?" Connor calls back as he toes his shoes off. "Because you've met yourself, right?"

Sure enough, when he walks into the living room, _Shrek_ is playing on the Stromes' big screen, and there are about a dozen people strewn around the room. Dylan is laying on the sofa, and Marns is on top of him like she's not an entire hockey player's worth of dead weight. They're both staring at the screen, Marns' hand tangled in the collar of Dylan's tee as Dylan rests his hand in the small of her back, and if Connor hadn't seen the blocky black _Auston_ on Dylan's wrist for himself the morning it came in, he's not sure he'd believe that they aren't soulmates.

"Davo," Marns says when she sees him. She shoots him a smile, and Connor smiles back on instinct, going over to sit on the floor by the sofa. "How's it been, buddy?"

"I mean, you know," Connor says, shrugging a little. "Fuck Guelph."

Marns laughs and, a moment later, runs her fingers through his hair. "I feel you on that one."

"Yeah," Connor says, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. He's not actually tired, but he's seen _Shrek_ enough times that he can picture it well enough as he hears it playing, and it feels nice to have Marns playing with his hair. He must drift a little, because the next thing he really thinks is that Marns is pulling a little at his hair and saying his name like she's been calling it for a while.

"Uh," he mumbles, blinking his eyes open. _Shrek_ is still going, so it can't have been that long. "Sorry?"

She laughs. "Get up," she says. "I have to go to the bathroom, and Dylan said I'm not allowed to kick you in the head to do it."

"That's why Dylan is my soulmate," Connor says very seriously, mostly because everyone here knows for a fact that it isn't true, which makes it pretty funny, if you ask Connor. Marns just rolls her eyes at him and sticks out her tongue, which Connor takes to mean she isn't amused, but he moves out of the way so she can get up anyway. He's rewarded by her carding her fingers through his hair again as she walks out of the room.

"Dude," Dylan says. "Come claim a spot on the sofa before Marns gets back."

"What, you don't like having a human blanket?" Connor asks innocently. He's already moving so sit beside Dylan, though.

"Marns is a space heater," Dylan says, groaning a little as he shifts. "Like, a really awesome space heater? But it's May, dude."

Connor snickers as he settles beside Dylan, then more when Marns walks back in and immediately pouts at them. She flings herself at Connor's side of the sofa, and Connor half-thinks she's going to just lay across both of them, comfort be damned, until she snuggles into Connor's side.

"Hi, Marns," he says, putting his arm over her shoulder. "How's your summer?"

"Eh," Marns says vaguely, shrugging a little. "I decided to take this whole summer to, like, think about a ton of shit, so I'm officially not starting my summer until school's finished. Thinking can wait."

"Sounds rough," Connor says, trying for sympathetic. He has no idea what sort of shit Marns has going on, but if it's enough that she wants to devote her whole summer to it, it has to be big. "I'll be around for most of it, so if you get sick of talking to Stromer's ugly mug, call me, eh?"

"Hey," Dylan says indignantly.

Marns laughs, though, and it makes Connor smile. "Thanks, Davo," she says, patting his thigh. She reaches up and tugs on his hand until his arm slides more completely over her shoulders, and Connor has no problem obliging her, letting her pull his hand down to rest on her chest. She laces their fingers together and hums absently, and Connor would have told anyone who asked that they're not really close enough friends to cuddle like this, but it's… nice. It's really nice, so Connor taps his thumb against her collarbone in an approximation of the rhythm of the song playing in the movie, and he can see Marns smile out of the corner of his eye.

 _Shrek_ eventually ends, like all good things do, and Connor mostly watches as the room splits into a _Shrek 2_ camp and an _Avengers_ camp. He doesn't really care what's on the television, honestly; he's mostly content to just sit around with a bunch of people he likes and relax for a second.

"Davo, tiebreaker," Dylan says out of nowhere, and Connor rolls his eyes.

" _Die Hard_ ," he says, mostly to be a dick.

"It's not Christmas, try again," Dylan says. "And if you don't pick one of the two movies we're actually debating here, I'm starting a _Harry Potter_ movie marathon. Don't test me."

"Oh god, anything but that," Connor says, leaning forward a little. It dislodges the hand that Marns is still holding onto. He feels her fingers brush his wrist and he turns to her, about to ask her to make a decision for him, but the look on her face stops him dead in his tracks. "Marns? Are you… is something wrong?"

"I," she says, then sucks in a deep, shaky breath. "Dyls?"

"Hey, hey," Dylan says, crossing the room in two steps and crouching right in front of her. "What happened, bud?"

Marns bursts into tears and leaps from the sofa, tearing out of the room. Connor turns around in shock, listening more than watching as Marns thunders up the stairs behind them.

"McDavid," Domi says, murder in her voice. "What the _fuck_ did you do."

"Nothing," Connor says, bewildered, as he turns back around. He flings his hand out kind of uselessly. "I swear to god, Domi, I didn't do—"

"Oh my _fucking_ god," Dylan interrupts, loud and sudden. "I am a _complete fucking moron_."

"Uh," Connor says, looking at Dylan. He's leaning on the sofa a little, staring at Connor's hand. Or, actually, his wrist, where _Mitch_ has been sitting since January, written in the same blocky black print that everyone's soulmark is written in. "Care to clue the rest of us in?"

"Absolutely not," Dylan says, standing up. "All of you, stay the fuck down here. You can watch a movie if you want, I don't care, but so help me if any of you tries to come up the stairs."

"Oh my god," Domi says, and when Connor turns to look at her, she's looking down at Connor's wrist, too. "Stromer—"

"Yeah, no, you're coming with me," Dylan says. "C'mon."

Domi nods and doesn't spare Connor a second glance as she follows Dylan out of the living room and up the stairs.

"So, uh," one of the Knights' guys who Connor doesn't really know says after an awkward moment that seems to stretch on and on. "Movie, or…"

"I think the party's over and Stromer was just too freaked to kick us all out," one of the girls says. Connor's pretty sure she plays for Soo, but with so many people he only vaguely knows in one place and one of his friends apparently in some sort of crisis over Connor's soulmark, he's giving himself a pass on not really remembering her name at the moment. 

"Yeah," says a girl who's definitely on Owen Sound. "C'mon, guys. Let's head out."

The rest of the people in the room seem to agree, because there's a half-hearted attempt to set the room to rights before they drift out. Connor's frozen on the sofa, not sure if he should stay and apologise or leave before he upsets Marns again, and he honestly has no idea how long he's been sitting there by the time Domi comes back down the stairs.

"Is she," Connor says, then coughs. "Is she okay? I promise, whatever it was, I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know," Domi says. She sounds tired and more than a little sad as she sits down next to Connor. "Sorry I flipped out. We're all a little overprotective when it comes to Marns."

"It's okay," Connor says. "I mean, I probably would've guessed it was me too, except I think it was my soulmark? Maybe?"

Domi hesitates, then sighs. "Look, it's not… it's not really my thing to tell you, man. Marns has a lot of shit going on, and I think your soulmark was… a shock to the system."

"Is she okay?" Connor asks again. "Does—should I leave?"

"Don't leave yet," Marns says from behind him, and Connor whips around. Her whole face is red and puffy, short hair sticking up in every conceivable direction, and it looks like she was crying maybe the entire time she was upstairs. She's changed out of what she'd been wearing during the movie, and Connor recognises the shirt as one of Dylan's mostly because of the mustard stain on the shoulder. "I… we should. We should talk."

"I'm really sorry," Connor says, soft and quick, because that definitely needs to come first. "Whatever it was, Marns, I'm so sorry."

She gives him a watery smile. "You actually didn't do anything wrong. It was just… kind of shocking. To see…" She hesitates, and Connor tucks his wrist closer to his body on autopilot. It's really twisting at something in his gut to see her so upset.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, feeling kind of helpless.

"Upstairs, c'mon," Dylan says, appearing behind Marns. He puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I got you a water and a blue Gatorade. I also sent Matty out for a Code Red in case you want a caffeine pick-me-up after all this."

Marns gives him the same watery smile. "Thanks."

Domi stands and unsubtly kicks at Connor's shoe until he does, too. "Do you want me to stick around, dude?" she asks Marns. "I'll do whatever you need."

"I think I'll be okay," Marns says, and her smile's a little more stable. "Thanks, Max."

Domi walks over and pulls Marns into a hug, and Connor can tell that Marns is clinging a little. Domi says something to her, too low for Connor to hear, and Marns laughs a little before pulling back. "Call if you need me," Domi says. "Or even just if you want."

"How can I miss you if you won't go away?" Marns says, and it's a little slower than her normal snappy comebacks, but Domi laughs like she's never heard anything funnier and shoves at Marns' shoulder before she walks out.

"Upstairs," Dylan says again, handing Marns a bottle of water. "You too, Davo."

Connor nods and follows as Dylan herds Marns up the stairs. They pass Ryan's room in silence, and then Dylan ushers Marns into his room and Connor follows, closing the door behind him. He's not sure where he should stand or sit or anything, so he just hovers kind of awkwardly near the door, hoping someone throws him a line.

"Sit down with me?" Marns asks, perching on the edge of Dylan's bed. "It's… uh. Please?"

"Okay," Connor says cautiously. He glances at Dylan, who gives him a thumbs-up, and then walks over to sit next to Marns.

"So, um," she says. She reaches for his hand, turning it over so his soulmark is facing up. "Wanna see something cool?"

"Uh, sure?" Connor says, frowning a little.

Marns looks up at him; there's no trace of a smile on her face, just a sort of determination, and then she looks back down and very gently touches the M in Connor's _Mitch_.

The whole soulmark instantly fills with brilliant, swirling colour: bold green and bright gold, red and yellow, a shimmering array of blues, a dusky orange. They swirl through the letters, beautiful and bright, and when Marns lifts her finger, a second or a minute or an hour later, it quickly fades back to black.

"We're," Connor says, swallowing. He looks up at Marns. "We're soulmates?"

Marns nods, and when she pulls off the wrist guard she'd shown up wearing today, Connor sees his own name there. He reaches out automatically, then stops himself with his fingers an inch from Marns' wrist. "Can I?"

"Yeah," she says, already looking down. It's the same colour and light show that had played out on Connor's wrist; he recognises the green and gold of Marns' Knights jersey, the red and yellow that the Otters use. Your soulmark colours are supposed to represent things that are important to you, and Connor figures that's pretty true for them. He's not reading into the orange, and the blues he saw were too muddled for him to be sure, but there's every chance that they're the colours of the teams that will draft them in a year.

Connor lets himself watch the colours swirling together for a moment, then another, before forcing himself to pull his fingers away. "I don't think I understand," he says, and he can hear how shaky his own voice is.

"I'm," Marns says, swallowing hard. "So people are born, right, and the doctor checks them over and hands them to their parents and says 'it's a girl!' or, like, a boy, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Connor says slowly.

"Sometimes they're wrong," Marns says simply. "Sometimes they hand a baby to a set of parents and tell them it's a girl, and they name her Michelle and they bring her home and they buy her, like, dresses and shit, and the bigger she gets, the less she's… a she."

"Trans," Connor says, the word jumping to his mind from some seminar or sex ed class or something. "Is that… that's you?"

"Transgender," Marns confirms, then smiles a little and holds out a hand. "Hi, I'm Mitchell Marner. Mitch. It's nice to meet you."

Connor looks down at the hand that Marns—that _Mitch_ , his Mitch—is holding out, then uses it to yank him into a hug that probably gets too clingy way, way too fast. Mitch makes a kind of choked-off little noise and Connor loosens his grip, but Mitch just burrows in closer, holding onto Connor just as much as Connor is holding onto him. 

"I'm gonna," Dylan says, which is right about when Connor remembers that Dylan was here the whole time. He knows his face is burning as he lets go of Mitch a little, but Dylan is smiling goofily at them. "I'll be downstairs, okay? Mitch, drink the Gatorade or you're gonna get a headache."

"Yes, Dad," Mitch says, rolling his eyes at Dylan. "Go away. Tell Max that I'm actually fine and she doesn't have to give Davo any kind of shovel talk."

"I can take her," Connor says, but he knows it's weak, and Dylan and Mitch both laugh at him a little. Whatever; Max Domi is goddamned terrifying.

"You can't," Mitch says, patting his hand reassuringly. "Please don't try."

"You're supposed to be my soulmate," Connor says, pouting and whining as dramatically as he can. "Support me!"

"I support you not getting your face caved in," Mitch says. "Or breaking your hand again."

"Don't you fucking dare," Dylan says, pointing at Connor. He narrows his eyes and shakes his head a little, then leaves, pulling the door shut behind him.

"So," Mitch says, still smiling faintly. "I guess we should probably, like, talk about this. The soulbond, and… me."

"Can I say something first? And then I'll listen to whatever you want to say, I promise," Connor says.

Mitch nods. "I'm listening."

"I have zero problems with you being trans," Connor says honestly. "Like. It's not something I really ever thought about until right now? But you're _you_ , and you're my soulmate, and whatever that ends up looking like? Okay, sure. I'm on board."

"Connor," Mitch says, and shit, it looks like he's about to start crying again. He lifts the collar of his shirt up to wipe at his eyes, and Connor suddenly gets why he'd had to change. "You better mean that, I swear to god."

"I mean it," Connor says. "Whether you're Michelle or you're Mitch or you're, I don't know, the Hulk? We're soulmates."

"Oh my god," Mitch says, and he's smiling as he leans into Connor again. "Hey, uh. Kiss me? Even though I'm kinda puffy and gross from crying?"

Connor smiles, wide and happy, and does as he's asked.

**Author's Note:**

> -did connor accept everything too easily? [I DO WHAT I WANT, THOR.](https://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/i-do-what-i-want-thor.jpg)
> 
> -the unnamed other players in this fic are gemel smith, zach senyshyn, and michael mcniven, in case anyone... cares...
> 
> -max domi knows about mitch because they were thrown together due to the "GIRLS MUST BE FRIENDS" thing. mitch came out to max as soon as he figured out he could trust her.
> 
> -dylan, on the other hand, knows because mitch has this thing where the people he super trusts all know, and he goes from not really knowing dylan to super extra duper trusting him in the span of, like, three days during the hockey challenge. he hits on dylan kind of jokingly, and it's—  
> dylan: uh, that's!! i'm. i'm so flattered, marns, i am! but i am. marns. i am... so very gay.  
> mitch: uh? me too, dude, what the OH SHIT  
> and then mitch runs away panicking for a hot second, in which a hot second is, like, three hours, and then he pulls his shit together and knocks on the door of dylan's hotel room. dylan hauls him in and gives him a big hug and solemnly pinky swears to never tell anyone, and that pinky swears are legally binding now, and that they're bros for life.  
> dylan: is there anything i could, like, do? to help make it suck less?  
> mitch: i don't know what my real name is? but please don't call me michelle anymore. i'm not ready for everyone to know, but...  
> and dylan erases "she" and "michelle" from his brain from then on. nobody catches onto the way he very carefully talks around never using a pronoun or first name for marns, because hockeys are not observant. (domi does it, too.)
> 
> -AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.


End file.
